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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has just offered a way out for House Republicans, who are badly losing the public relations war over the payroll tax cut.

He's calling on Speaker of the House John Boehner to give in and pass a bill to extend the payroll tax cut — implicitly the bill that passed the Senate by an 89-10 margin on Saturday.

As a compromise, he also calls on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to appoint negotiators on a year-long extension of the payroll tax cut — which Reid has already pledged to do once the House passed a short-term extension.

This is the first time McConnell has publicly broken with Boehner on the issue — and is a reflection of growing discontent among Senate Republicans, that Boehner's opposition was undermining the GOP.

Here is his statement:

‘House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms. These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both. Working Americans have suffered enough from the President’s failed economic policies and shouldn’t face the uncertainty of a New Year’s Day tax hike.’

“The House and Senate have both passed bipartisan bills to require the President to quickly make a decision on whether to support thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs through the Keystone XL pipeline, and to extend unemployment insurance, the temporary payroll tax cut and seniors’ access to medical care. There is no reason why Congress and the President cannot accomplish all of these things before the end of the year. House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms. These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both. Working Americans have suffered enough from the President’s failed economic policies and shouldn’t face the uncertainty of a New Year’s Day tax hike. Leader Reid should appoint conferees on the long-term bill and the House should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of Keystone XL pipeline jobs, prevents any disruption in the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions.”